Only one victory separates the first four teams in VTB standings

The intrigue of the battle for the 1st place in the VTB League persisted into the last game of this calendar year. By beating Zenit, UNICS Kazan would have regained the 1st place and left for the New Year holidays ranked as number one in the VTB standings.

Zenit, which is among the Top-3 in the League in numbers of 3-pointers made, immediately began to take advantage. The first 9 points of the hosts were scored from behind the arc — Jordan Loyd scored, and Sergey Karasev scored twice. Although UNICS managed to regain the defense on the perimeter, Zenit took over the initiative. The first 10 minutes ended with a score of 25:21- the St. Petersburg team lead.

The 2nd quarter became even more effective, and the key player was Billy Baron. He successfully scored from behind the arc, followed immediately by a lay-up. The teams staged a real shootout: every time Zenit broke away in the score, UNICS Kazan countered with Marco Spissu or Isaiah Canaan shots. Nevertheless, Zenit reached a double-digit lead 48:38 in the second quarter and had a comfortable 57:48 lead at halftime.

UNICS Kazan tried to come back but lacked the strength, and Zenit went ahead to a 16 point lead in the fourth quarter and eventually won the game with 97-81.

With two losses so far, UNICS Kazan, Zenit, and CSKA Moscow now share second place in the VTB league behind Avtodor Saratov (1 loss).